


To Be Defeated By You, My Dear

by Duskkodesh



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Background Relationships, Children of Thanos, Complete, F/M, Infinity War, Marvel Universe, Origin Story, Sex, Snark, The Black Order - Freeform, The Cull Obsidian, Villain relationship, What am I doing with my life?, probably smut, sex scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-14 10:36:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14767979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duskkodesh/pseuds/Duskkodesh
Summary: The Children of Thanos / The Black Order have a new addition after a raid on the blue planet. A woman who has lost her lover, her home, and her arm. Maybe she'll find something more out in space. This is a multi chapter relationship origin fic based on Marvel 616 canon with a few things slightly rearranged. The history of Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight told mostly in the past. VERY Mature situations, descriptions of violence.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I'm writing this. I haven't written in years so forgive me if it's terrible. I just love these two in the comics so much and they deserve some background history and in the process I'll try to add some of the other Black Order in and give them a little time to shine. Truly evil villains are a thing of beauty so no one is going to become a hero here. Please drop me a comment if I screwed anything up.

"Who is that? Did we take prisoners brother?"

To see Black Dwarf following his brother around was a source of comedy for some of Thanos' forces. He was huge, craned over the smaller pale man while he toweled blood off of his armor and scales. The irony in the universe. They were surrounded by shielding, transporters, technology, but nothing got blood off your skin quite like a damp towel. 

Corvus stared. His brother had seen it before them. A woman stretched out on a cot, she was being carried off by four Chitauri guards and tended by a doctor. His teeth clenched, and believe me, there were many many teeth. "No. I killed her! Did I not brother?! That is the one!" He stopped his march, causing the larger half of his family to nearly plow into his backside as the smaller and pointier creature turned. "I killed that damned woman! Spilled her blue blood all over the temple! She was the one who mouthed off to me!"

Poor Black Dwarf. He was just trying to get clean. His brother was perplexing sometimes. Quick to a rage, often fast to go on rants. Truly it was a rare day that Corvus shut up for more than a few minutes of time. He'd been that way for years. Black Dwarf himself found it was better to be quiet and so others thought him an imbecile. That couldn't be further from the truth. The pair had met as children, both adopted by the same woman on a hostile world. A rocky barren place where they and their other siblings survived by odd jobs taken to feed the family. It was Corvus who'd found himself unable to find work being small, scrawny. It was Corvus who'd first lifted a blade and killed to bring home crystal and food. Black Dwarf had taken to hauling cargo on carts for pay instead. He was big, strong, and fast-witted. Well-suited to most hard work. The day that his adopted brother had run into his cart and hidden from the guards, dripping blood as he was now, that was the day they truly became brothers. He sent the guards on. He saved Corvus' life.

"Brother? Do you hear me?!" The voice turned shrill, causing Black Dwarf to chuckle. "You were not hearing anything I said!!"

"Sheathe your blades, brother. She looks like she is dying anyways. Let her have a warrior's death. Thanos must have brought her aboard. Perhaps she impressed him in wounding you." He smirked, the scales on his face tilting up.

Corvus shot a glare with those red eyes of his. "She will be dead when I am done. Her damn spear got me right in the..."

"We all know where her spear got you. We heard the pitch of your voice before the glaive mended you." Yep, still smirking. 

A new voice sounded out. Smooth like polished wood. Refined but with a hint that it could go to screeching in a fury. "That we all did."

"Maw, you blister on the asshole of the cosmos. Do not spy like that! Shouldn't you be in our master's quarters playing at being a living footstool?"

Maw grinned. It was an unnerving thing to see. The split in the bottom of his lip, his large blue eyes, the way his ears seemed to twitch, they gave the appearance he was always watching, listening. He'd been simply standing to a side of the hall but Corvus was damn sure he hadn't been there a moment prior. He looked down at Corvus, literally and figuratively. The man had never lifted a blade, he spilled no blood. Maw served in other ways. "The Maw, the. You always forget that part. Perhaps the glaive fragments block your remaining ears where they fused to your skull. No matter though, the blue woman is to be our new member. Our lord was quite impressed with her fighting skill, and honestly that high note you hit. Were I to make the Black Order a choral group..." 

"Fekt! No no no no no! I killed her! I did! I took her arm off!"

"That you did, and Thanos has ordered me to build her a new one, and a new weapon." Maw eyed the glaive in Corvus' hand. "I am leaning towards a spear, she seemed quite adept with a standard one. As for the arm, she is being fitted now. She's already accepted the offer despite the fact I believe her mate was among the sacrifices on her planet. She is quite strong willed, why it took me nearly two words to get through to her."

"You should have left her for dead! Building her a new arm! Giving her a weapon! Why in the krutacking galaxy should we be handing her such things?!"

"Why indeed Corvus of 'the' Glaive." Maw took a step back. The shorter man was feisty and Maw was prone to recieving whacks to the head with weapons wielded from below.

Black Dwarf crossed his arms. Great. These two at it again. If they started anything he'd have to knock them both out.

"I recall a time when it was peacefull here and Thanos and his beloved general..." Maw pointed to himself in a half bow. "Traveled among the planets dividing the sacrifices from the citizens. Then a most curious thing happened..."

Corvus, some yards away was held back by his brother's arm on his shoulder like a great iron safety bar. 

"Why, we stopped on this cold little boulder of a planet and a child launched himself out of the rock, trying to stab my beloved master with a knife. A crude, rusted, shitty little knife and a crude, foul-mouthed, little child. One who peeped at the women on board and scrawled his renderings of genitals on the walls, and... played his terrible Xarcatian music so loud I had to soundproof his quarters." There came the full smile. "And we called him Corvus for like the crows of earth he never stopped cawwing. The only good thing he brought was his brother who plays a damn good game of Jacethian chess. Are you on for a rematch tonight?"

"No mind tricks this time." Black Dwarf growled, waved his hand, and released his brother who it seemed was storming down the hall towards the medical bay.

"I would not dream of it our dear Dwarf. Where does your brother tread?"

"Wherever he damn well pleases, as always. He will come around. Or, or we will hear his scream as she claims what she glanced earlier."


	2. First Impressions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What the hell, people are actually reading this?! I'm getting kudos! WHY? You all know I'm a loser right? Anyways first segments are short, I know. Trying to make chapters longer as I go and I get into the swing of things. Still not sure how long this will be. Six chapters maybe? ten at most. I'll work on it between my shifts at work so if I go a while without an update I promise I haven't forgotten!  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was dark here, cold. The medical ward was always kept as such. No lights were turned on to guide her. Nor was she strapped down when she came to. Proxima had been stripped bare, cleaned already of blood and sand. Her shoulder felt so heavy when she tried to sit up, why? It forced her back down with a grunt. A second attempt at sitting up proved successful and she moved her legs over the side of the raised cot knowing she couldn't stand yet. Too much blood lost, too many bruises. Wait... her arm?! She felt the cot, how? With her remaining hand she felt down her shoulder. Cold, cold metal but she could feel the touch of her fingers, the cot, the weight. She thought to make a fist and it did. Her mind grasped at straws of the past. She'd been in the palace with the other guards, they had run, the cowards! It was the messenger.. the words came floating back.

"It is merely a pittance, a portion. A tribute."

"Are you mad?! We will not offer our citizens to this mad titan!! We will send for the southern warriors!" Their queen leaned in from her throne. Like most of her people she was a fierce ruler, not one to be intimidated by outsiders. Especially not outsiders who had forced their way into the palace like ticks biting into an animals hide. There were two of note; an odd skinny man with golden ears and teeth like she'd never seen, and an older larger man, scaled like the reptiles of til'mak'tu. They were surrounded by several armored guards who did not speak as the other did. No, the small one did all the talking. 

"The southern warriors are already dead. I bring you a limb as proof. I must say, it is rather shapely."

"No! My Daughters fight strong!" It was the Chitauri guard to Corvus' right that had dispensed the arm from a bag. The dead flesh then thrown unceremoniously before the queen's throne with a wet slapping noise on tile. The room seemed to freeze and stare at it as if it would come alive and crawl.

"My dear Elysia. If you will not bow, we will take your knees."

He smiled, it was eerie, too many teeth and no kindness or true joy. She'd never seen one like him. When she looked back at her compatriots then she'd suspected they'd run. Each seemed to shrink back as the man's eyes scanned the room. He stopped to stare at her. She stared right back. She'd held her spear tighter in her fist and glared daggers at him. Maybe that was why he'd come for her later at the temple, blade readied. Though perhaps it was the crude gesture she'd made at him with her left hand.

"You are awake. Good." The med bay lights buzzed as they illuminated. "I have given the ship instructions for your care and prosthetic. Does it not suit you? A wonder of innovation if I do say so myself." Maw stood not but ten feet away, the slender alien looking more like a glorified butler than a nemesis at that moment with his tunic and swept back hair. 

She reached for a spear that was no longer on her back. Of course they'd taken it. It had just been an action of instinct. She knew this one though. He'd spoken with her as she lay dying in the rubble. 

He didn't even move when he saw what she'd intended. "No need for that. You will face no harm here, though I should warn you about..."

"How the feckt did you beat me here!?" There he was at the door. Mr. Teeth himself. Fuck not having a spear. She literally punched the metallic arm into the wall behind her to pull off a piece of paneling and wield it like a club as he approached.

"I see my design is working splendidly!" Maw seemed giddy at the destruction of the bay wall. 

Corvus was much less enthusiastic, but he was armed, the glaive was thrust against her arm with a clang, repelled and blocked as she stood and her head swam. The paneling was dropped. Her grip had failed. She still managed the grapple, another strike came fast. She blocked with the arm raised. Maw clapped his hands like it was a show. It was, they were testing each other. 

"Made it to reflect the glaive I see... I'll try not to take that out on your swollen head later."

"I couldn't have you destroying it outright, now could I?"

"Could have left her in the rubble and simply built yourself a sex android with the parts."

"Alas, I fear your mother would be offended if I spent my efforts on an android rather than her."He picked something nonchalantly from under his fingernail.

"Wha...?!!"

Proxima saw an opening, a grab with her other arm and a twist of her torso throwing the robotic left forearm against Corvus while pulling the Glaive away with her right.. When he landed hard against the wall he looked up to see her still naked and holding his weapon. That had hurt more than he cared to say. "Bitch!"

"You only call me that because I have won twice now." She had finally spoken, her voice deep with an undercurrent of rage.

"You didn't win! I took your arm!"

"You fell, yet I still stood."

"You hit me in the..."

"Enough, children. I need to make some adjustments. Dear, I believe your reaction time is slow and that grip worries me. Let me see here." Maw pulled up a tray, walking to her as though she posed no threat. He chose a sonic emitter and started tinkering in an open panel as she looked at him. He was just a bit shorter than she was, more than a bit older. She'd fallen silent, the Maw had willed it. Corvus, his fight ruined for now, stood and took his glaive from her arm, dusting it off as if she'd soiled it. 

"She's just brute force, Maw! No match for my brother!" He stepped closer to examine her.

"You give her too little credit. Her accompaniment fled when you raided. Supergiant and I were with the queen but that was still you and your brother and fifty or so Chitauri in the temple. How many did she take out alone before she got to you?"

"That's beside the point!"

"You are supposed to be the master strategist among us." The Maw smiled, something clicking inside the arm. He wiped his grayed hair back from his eyes. "There we are dear Proxima. Try it now."

"I am the strategist! I planned that whole attack. Divide the city in half and kill the left. Take down the spiritual center and the queen at once!" 

Proxima's eyes shot up and her metallic left hand grabbed Corvus by the throat. "You killed my betrothed." Her voice was cool, calm. No reason to raise her tone. She had him.

"BEFROW? I WATH TRYB TO KILT YOO..." No air, every word was forced out in desperation as he felt her slowly, slowly squeeze the flesh around his neck. The glaive was coming for her throat fast. 

The snap startled even Maw who looked down at the limp bodied Corvus with awe. 

"Well, I do think it's working much better now."


	3. First Missions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That weapon comment is gonna go down as one of my favorite lines of dialogue I have ever written.

**Years ago.**

"Any you see here." The tall man drawled as they walked. He seemed utterly disinterested in the boy who walked with him at only about knee high occasionally reaching for the tail end of his tunic to hold onto. The Maw thought he should have better duties than escorting a child, he was The Ebony Maw, not a babysitter.

Hammers, axes, maces, all lined cases, walls rimmed with laser precise security measures. All illuminated by lines of light flush with the cases themselves or the glow of buttons beneath the labels. They'd amassed quite a collection. Maw was fiddling with his ring's sensors and leading the boy towards the blasters but the child had already stopped to ogle something. It took him a moment to notice."A bit large for you, Corvus. There's a wonderful ruby dagger if you fancy blades. Very well balanced." 

"It's that one. I want that one." The glaive was twice his height and three quarters his weight. It loomed from its case like a ghost begging to be noticed. The blade jutted at an odd angle from the staff and the gold of it wound up the sides like sentient scrollwork.

"That one, that one there can split atoms and do more. That symbol. Do you know what it means? The snake and the staff?"

"Like the world serpent who devours souls. It claims life. Right?"

"No, primitive planet you came from, Corvus. It is an old symbol. It spans many worlds. The snake and the staff are for healing. This heals its bearer. The one who bonds with this cannot die unless the symbol is destroyed... But it will take great pain to be used." He folded his arms at his back and bent so his blue eyes could look over the boy's face.

"I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid of no thing!"

The Maw sighed. "Well, I suppose at least this way if you die in your tasks you will return to our master. It will take many years to wield this." He put his elongated fingers on the boys cheek, forcing his head up then to the left. "Bonding though  
can begin now. I think I will drill... here." One finger tapped his temple and the boy's eyes widened. 

**Current time**

The ship stopped and Corvus Glaive touched the side of his head, the long curved piece of alien metal long bonded to his skull. Its twin mirrored on the other side. To weild a world-killing weapon you had to make a sacrifice.  
Life was about sacrifices. 

Tributes. 

He bowed to Thanos, clawed feet bent at an angle opposite his knee. "Andrega grows fat and slothful. It has been three cycles since we last made them bow. Our sources say their birth rate rises, their resources advance, and they grow cocky and arrogant in posture. We strike now while they prance and worship their gods for protecting them from our return! We should raze the very image of their hopes and dreams and hear their children scream mercy from under our feet! We will break them! We will drench their fields in blood! Let them call again to their gods and in their silence and insignificance their answer gained is 'you are ignored!'" 

Proxima watched this from across the room. The toothy one seemed more elegant when groveling, or at least more concise. Though some moments he seemed to grow almost poetic when he spoke of slaughter and death. The Maw stood beside her, observing with his head bowed and hands folded. On his other side a woman she now knew as Supergiant hid in plain sight under a white cowl. Black Dwarf had taken a meditation pose against the wall. He looked quite peaceful. It was a mystery how he managed that, both the pose and the serenity. 

"Show them the way, Corvus. Bring me my tribute." Thanos didn't say much. She'd learned that in the days since she'd agreed to stay. She had quarters now, armor, food. Why had she done it? Well, her reasons were her own but there was little left for her on her own planet. Her people were warriors and she'd seen them grovel like cowards. Returning was not an option now.

Thanos' voice didn't make her flinch despite its depth. She was one of the few unshaken. Until Corvus turned with a toothy grin to exit and Thanos held out a great hand. "You will take Proxima with you in this task. Show her how the Cull Obsidian is feared." 

You'd swear he'd been hit on the back of his head the way Corvus stopped. Maw smiled. Not a joyous smile. It was one of those terrible smiles like when she heard screaming from his quarters and he exited his door while playing with his jewelry. "The rest of the Cull shall take Nebula and Gamora for their trip home to Titan." That smile was gone and suddenly Corvus laughed and crooked his hand. They began to file out one by one. 

"Wait. First, Proxima Midnight. Newest of my generals." She was the only one left as Thanos pulled from the ship's panels something long, highly polished gold. The large man's hands made it look like only a sliver. "For you. Better then what Maw could supply." She stepped forward. She was not the most favored but she'd taken fast notice as the bravest and cruelest around him. 

"A spear." She felt the weight at the grip, tipping it back and forth to seek out its balance point. Once she had it she gripped it tight and gave it a spin.

"Forged myself, powered with a star trapped here." He leaned in, his great height looming even next to Proxima who considered herself tall. A finger tapped the point. "A quantum singularity. What do you think of it?"

She spun it once again and thrusted it towards the ground expecting there to be no impact. The star's energy turned to three beams of dark light that burnt into the floor of the ship like it was butter. The hole smoldered and dripped. "I love it."

First one standing outside the door to the ship's bridge was Corvus. Of course he'd been waiting, his hand on his neck as he recalled her hand around it mere days prior. The others were not far ahead but she found herself stopping to smile at his sneer. Spear hoisted to her side. "Your spine heals well."

"My spine and all of me mends well! Unlike you I have no need of alloys to replace what is taken!" 

"No? Then your ears?" She would honest to god have tapped the glaive pieces at the edges of his skull if he hadn't backed the hell up at the mere motion and tapped her finger with his glaive. There was an odd numbing sensation in her fingertips, then a sting. She watched it begin to force the metal of her finger to glow. Immovable force meets unstoppable object. Both resisted the other. The glow spread to the blade of the glaive. He only pressed harder and gritted his teeth.

"Enough brother." It was Black Dwarf who stepped back to them and yanked Corvus' arm up. "Thanos tests you both. Surely you see this?"

Damn. He'd spoiled her fun. Brother? She stared over Black Dwarf, then her eyes rested on Corvus. Their mother must have had a rough time. One pointy and clawed, one huge as all hell.

"I'm not a fool! I know why he wants her with me! We will just see if she comes back in one piece!"

"We will see if you come back at all." Proxima smiled, an image that caused Black Dwarf to grin in response. "You seem the sane one of the family I see."

Corvus snorted. "You've never seen him angry. Come on then. We will take my shuttle, twenty men..." 

Black Dwarf gave a little wave as she passed him and caught up to the already walking at a stern pace Corvus. Quite easy as she was a good head taller with longer limbs. 

Their steps on metal were the only noises until he arrived at the shuttle and sat down in the pilot's chair. She naturally took copilot's seat much to his chagrin. 

"Must you sit with me?"

"I am a general. I'll not sit with the fodder."

Dammit Corvus. Don't smile. Don't laugh. Don't let her know that was amusing. He flipped a few switches and sent out the electronic call for guards to board. Nothing to do now but wait. Awkward silence filled the small space as thick as fog. "You know what we'll be doing on Andrega?" Well, that hadn't lasted long. It was probably a good thing he could scarcely shut up. 

"You seem to be collecting offerings. Tithes." She smirked. "Like a priest."

He glared. Those beady eyes taking her in.

"A harmless priest who feeds orphans, perhaps?"

"You are trying to rile me."

"You are normally faster in action than in observance."

"That changes when I am doing my job..."

"Tithe collector?"

"World cutter."

"Like a child with round-edged scissors?" Utterly calm words. She was enjoying this.

He snapped. "If this is about your arm you should thank me! You are stronger now then you were! And you are no longer housed on that fekting planet with those weak women who thought themselves warriors yet turned their backs and ran on you!"

"And what do you know of my planet?"

"I know I expected enough of a fight that I brought the rest of the four. I was sorely disappointed!"

She leaned in, her hair falling to the side. The new horned helmet held it back but not if she tipped her head. It was as blue as the rest of her. "My planet was weak. They deserved the lasers in their backs. And what of your planet, Corvus of the Glaive?"

"You even talk like Maw. Don't do that. I nearly felt that in his voice."

"Heard, you mean heard."

"Felt." He tapped the glaive pieces. "You asked about my ears. I cannot hear any more. Not as others do. I feel it, the tone, the waves carried but not truly the sound. It was a sacrifice. But I recall what Maw sounds like. I will forever recall what that damned man sounds like."

"And what of your eyes? Can you still see out of those tiny red pustules?"

"Are you trying to get me to attack you?!"

She sat back and sighed, her legs crossed. "What I'm doing is trying to assess your senses so that when we fight together I will know your weak points."

"To kill me again..."

"To protect you."

His head turned sharply. "I do not need protection! I am one of the four! I am Corvus Glaive, killer of worlds, general for the most dangerous being in the galaxy! Wielder of the Ophidian Ruin!"

"Men always name their weapons." She brushed her fingers through her hair and tucked it back behind the horns. "They stroke them then they talk about how big they are and it's always highly exaggerated."

"Wait! Are you flirting with me?!" He gaped through those dagger-like teeth while the console beeped in front of him. Soldiers and guards loaded in back and ready. He didn't start the controls yet but his three fingered claw was hovered over it while he awaited her response. 

Without a word she leaned forward and pushed the button herself with her right hand. The shuttle launched.


	4. First Battles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to tone down the gore but Corvus will be Corvus. In my head he's at least quite jovial about it but you have been warned.

Andrega was a technologically divided planet. Small, with some areas of high prosperity and development, others that were simply wetland devoid of intelligent life. It was in one of these latter sections that he'd set the ship to hover and started to disembark. The awkward silent flight turned into an awkward silent march through orange swamp grass and dense iron-rich mud. Proxima's new suit was keeping her dry but she could feel the humidity on her face clinging to her skin. "I thought we were to collect tithes to our master. Why then are we here? Are we going fishing?"

Gods she was always so smug to him, but she'd been flirting with him? Poor Corvus was confused as all hell and quietly contemplating. "You think we just stomp on in and flash our fangs don't you? Our master deserves a bit more than that and if you are to be one of the four you will learn."

"What more could we find in a swamp?"

"A catalyst." He looked up into her eyes. "Your people were afraid yes? Soiling themselves in terror?"

"Yes. They heard of the mad titan before you came. Barely, I admit, through whispers from travelers returned home. Outsiders weren't permitted into the city."

"What fun is that?" He looked down at his glaive to realize that the rapidly accruing soil on his clawed boots was also collecting on the low end of the weapon. He sneered and spit in disgust. 

"You jest but it was obviously a safety concern and to prevent interbreeding." She was taller, her spear didn't come close to the grass and she smirked when she noticed his.

"Afraid of outside men?"

"Betrothal and marriage in our society were duties with great privilege given only to a select few. If we allowed outside men in it would create a host of problems, as men have a tendency to do."

He grinned in that menacing way of his. "You were betrothed. You earned that 'honor'? Being tied to another weaker being for the rest of your life. Making a bunch of screaming kids."

"Yes, I did earn that honor in battle." She glared and for once her voice got snippy. 

"Well, now you get to join our little celebration and ode to death. Far more fun." He held out his hand, stopping her. The men behind them followed the signal as well, stopping in place as he raised a single claw to his lips. Shhhhh. 

She knew that sign well. What she didn't know was why he then adjusted his cloak and walked ahead through the break in the grass, stepping out onto ceramic paneling she didn't know was there. Proxima looked to the guards then she followed. No more grass, no more weeds, it was a courtyard set into the sunken earth. A few great beasts slumbered about, looking something akin to plated salamanders. They wore no clothes or weapons. She thought them animals until one screamed, all of them standing in fear and confusion to be perhaps five foot tall each. Corvus' glaive hummed and it hooked the first through the throat. The blood spray was not as present as the bile and innards that spilled out. He dropped that one as it writhed and screamed, running at the next with a twirl of his weapon. 

Well, that was impressive. Proxima had little time to make a choice. She chose to join. Her spear was aimed, the beams shooting out and triangulating to blow through one's chest in a storm of shredded amphibious flesh. Corvus laughed.

Six they killed before he went from the courtyard into the opaque and mud-caked building. She guarded the door as he came back wearing more blood and carrying a mewling writhing small salamander like creature in his arms. Two of its six limbs were pulled up, stretched in his hand like a taut rope. 

"Cut here, my dear Proxima. Be careful, this one is royalty."

**The City**

"My dear president, how you posture and pace! Why we can see the memory in your eyes, we are not fooled. You were but a youngling when the Black Order culled these lands were you not?"

"Thanos has taken his price already in our elder's blood! We have only now rebuilt! To come and ask his price again, to take half our people would decimate us!" Seems the creatures could talk. These were older by only years, the plates fused on their skin. They gargled the words as much as sounded them.

"We do not ask half your people, merely a pittance, a portion..."

"Get on with it! What is it you want?!"

Oh he hated being interrupted. "We desire all hatchlings the age of one or below. Alive." 

Proxima stood with him as he strutted so coldly. The body of the dead young one was slit, splayed on the ground where they had placed it after carrying it into the city. A catalyst he'd called it. A thing to inspire fear. She'd not taken into account the grandiose manner in which Corvus liked to ask his price but she got the feeling he made this a habit. He enjoyed it. Kill the thing they most protected and they'd fall. The little one they'd sent out of the city, guarded, hidden. Not well enough. The amount of knowledge and research that he would have to keep up with just for war tactics was incredible.

"You were a youngling, a witness, so let me be clear. If you offer us death. We die and thousands more will swarm this rock you call a planet. The entire army of Titan with tanks and weapons will arrive. They will kill every last one of your race then when the work is done we will go to every port in the galaxy, find every last slimy, fetid, half-formed member of your kind and kill them as well. We will crush your eggs and raze your cities and no one will even recall the fact you existed. There will be no prayers as there will be no time for gods. You will be wiped from existence like a stain." He actually took his cloak and wiped a spot of mud off the glaive. Proxima tried hard not to chuckle at the drama of it. Overactor. "Or you give us the hatchlings, keep your eggs, keep your city, and recall that we just as easily could have done so very much more."

"I... I must confer with the representatives of our cities. We must speak and..." The president backed up to a group of his peers. It seemed the groups of this species were arranged by color in the hall. He was a sandy beige. Others were steel gray, rust orange, or iron red. 

"Speak then! Thanos is a most generous being. He gives you one day to decide. Do not make me assemble the four here! Do not make us.." He was interrupted loudly then. A young one who'd taken a blaster aimed and shot towards the man. The path only glanced a guard who tried to step in front of Corvus to shield him. The blast ended through his shoulder. He flinched, eyes squeezed tight as blood spurted up from the wound. Proxima's spear lit, the three black lights burning the assailant to cinders from across the room turning the room white-purple for a flash of attack. Chaos erupted and the guards they'd brought circled them in protection. 

"Corvus! Your shoulder bleeds! I will kill them all!" She grabbed the man roughly by the opposite shoulder. It wasn't in her nature to be gentle.

"Tis just a wound." He chuckled. Amid the guards they were shielded and he touched it lightly, claws coming up with blood. It had started to soak his cloak. "Take me back to the shuttle. Leave the men to kill those in the building. They can have their day of deliberation without their damned president."

He was weak. She wasn't. He was hoisted up, much to his surprise. The glaive and her spear held tucked under one arm as she stomped off with the sound of blaster fire behind her. 

"You are an idiot." The shuttle was silent, calm with him laid out in his seat. He insisted to be put there as she berated him. For a nearly unconscious man he had a lot of fight in him. She'd locked the door behind them. "You strut in front of the crowds and yet you are susceptible to injury as anyone!"

"Not... quite. You wound me." He laughed at his own pun. " I have some Carinth ale under the seat. Get me the bottle and I'll drive." He twirled a clawed finger in the air, pointing to the copilot's chair. 

She glared, when was she not glaring, really? Yet the bottle was fished out, the amber glass vessel handed off to him. "You aren't well enough to drive."

He was taking a long hit of the ale and quirking one eye at her. The man didn't even bother to speak as he pulled his cloak aside to show where his armor had melted but the skin underneath was whole. Blood caked the area still, proving he'd been hit. She threw up her hands and sat in her seat. "You could have told me!"

"So long as my glaive stays complete I will heal. Even from dust, even from bits and pieces smashed into the soil, or from a single finger. Perhaps an eyelash."

"Does it hurt?"

"No, being injured hurts, but I've become accustomed. Honestly a good sword through my side is a light day. Fire is the worst. Drowning creeps me right the fekt out still but no one ever tries to drown their enemies so I'm good on that particular front. Drink?" He was all grin as he wiggled the bottle. 

"You're a madman. I suspected as much when you came into the temple obviously looking for me. No sane man would laugh like that as I killed their guard."

"You motioned at me in the palace. I had to come for you. I always love a challenge."

"This?" She twirled her thumb. "It's an insult. May you lay with a beast and awaken having taken its parasites. Common on my planet."

He spat the ale, the spray raining over her lap and the control panels. All his damn research, everything he learned of her culture and he'd screwed up the simplest thing. "That's a challenge sign! You were calling me out!"

"Ugh! That ale smells like piss and it's all over me! I would have called you out! You killed my people!"

"Your people were xenophobic leeches writhing around a walled city in fear and sucking on whatever they could find!" He slumped back in the chair taking another drink and adjusting his leg to lay over the arm of the chair so he could wiggle his foot. "Usually each other."

"Mine had more honor than yours!"

"I'm not arguing with you there miss prissy spear-riding darooda." Finally he capped the bottle. 

"Don't you invoke our language!" She pulled her spear to his throat, the tip just under the sharp point of his chin. He chuckled. It seemed to be his natural reaction to most things she did. "You think I challenged you that day? Fine! I challenge you now. Aboard the ship, no weapons. We will fight as equals!"

"And your arm?"

"I will take it off!"

"Fighting me literally with one arm. Would that not just be a wrestling match? We'd be writhing on the ground, I may as well oil up first." It seemed it was her turn to narrow her eyes at him and see if he was flirting. He just wiggled his foot like an impatient child, his tone playful. 

The spear was lowered slowly. "You... are a very strange man. You aren't as I imagined you to be."

"How did you imagine me to be? Based on your wide breadth of experience of me, of course." That tone was all snark but mid sentence he sat up straight and hit the autopilot for the shuttle. The ship hummed and started course.

She paused, carefully thinking. "Highly strung, tense, unable to let the smallest slight go. All intimidation and force. Certainly not well learned. Perhaps one of the men who gets off on death and destruction or bending others to their will. Maybe a slave owner, who abuses underlings." She had to stop because he was laughing again. 

"I am a feared general but I am fair and harsh when I need to be. You get the best out of your men when they respect you."

"Every guard that went with us today is dead."

"Death, is a release. No more obligation, no pain. It's a reward for good service. Those men, they all boarded my shuttle in volunteering. They knew they weren't coming home." His foot on the floor tapped, claws curling. "You still want that match?"

"Yes, I think I do." Despite the debate she stretched and pulled a tool from her pocket to comb her hair. The humidity always wrecked it. 

"Care for a wager?"

Oh now he looked positively fiendish. She just had to know what he had in mind. "Yes."

"If I win I'd like to have dinner with you."

That was not at all what she'd anticipated coming out of his mouth. "If you are some species that ingests flesh.."

"Going to tell me you don't like a good rare steak?"

"No jokes. Explain. Now." She tapped her finger hard on the arm of his chair, leaned over.

"I want to have a meal with you and talk. What is to explain. Must you make every action a gambit? It's not unpleasant to talk to you. There, are you happy?"

"I agree. And if I win I should choose a prize?"

He grinned and sat back. The ale had him feeling relaxed, though he badly wanted a shower. "Anything at all."

"I want a tooth." She grinned and folded her hands. God, she was giving him Maw vibes.

"WHAT?!" 

"For my arm. I want a front tooth. One of the long ones. I'll make a necklace out of it and wear it under my suit so if any ask I can say I took a piece for a piece. You should consider yourself lucky I did not ask for other things." She laughed. 

He'd not heard her laugh like that. "I count myself fortunate and I agree. Proxima my dear, I had my doubts but I think you are going to fit in with us just fine."


	5. First Concessions

"I thought you were trying to kill her!" So rarely did Maw ever raise his voice that it had a nearly comedic effect on Corvus and Black Dwarf as they sat on the bench. Corvus had been working out, stretching, anything he could do to prep. Maw was fully clothed compared to their meager coverings. Dwarf in his usual shorts, Corvus wrapped in a robe. 

"I changed my mind." He was fast to snap back. "So do you want to watch this or not?"

"I want to know what is running through that head of yours, Corvus."

"Ah ah! None of that shit!I don't want you in my mind!" Corvus pointed a finger directly up towards Maw in threat.

"And just who is going to tell our gracious lord?"

"I have informed him." Black Dwarf smiled up from his seat.

"Brother! What did you say?"

"I simply told him that there are no females of our species left and that I had seen you making Sarkon pup eyes at her."

"Oh for fekt sake! I have not been doing that! I wagered a dinner. Nothing more."

Maw fiddled with his rings, looking utterly unimpressed by this entire affair. "It is a truth, Corvus, that you did ensure the death of your own planet. Every last one like you..."

"And my brother!"

Maw raised an eyebrow. Their insistence that the pair were blood related perplexed him. They were obviously different species but was he allowed to mention this? Ohhh no. Not ever. Even Thanos had corrected him once. "...and your brother. All like you two are dead. Yet, I have never seen you take such direct action towards any woman here. Peeping? Yes. Masturbating in the showers? Yes. But actual courtship...?"

Maw was lucky Black Dwarf had seen where this was going and was holding his brother down under an elbow so he'd not lurch at Ebony and kill him. Corvus was trying to wiggle free to no avail. "No woman was worth my time! She's different!"

Maw bent at his waist with a smile, his hands tented. The two brothers looked up expectantly as he cleared his throat. "She could do better."

Black Dwarf let his brother loose.

**Elsewhere**

"Does it fit well?" Supergiant sat in Proxima's quarters with her legs folded at the edge of her bed. She watched with interest as Proxima turned to try to catch a view of her side in the mirrored wall. 

"I must do something about my hair. This will be close combat and it could be a weak point if he grabs it. The suit fits fine though. A bit tight in the chest perhaps."

"The great Corvus Glaive, general of Thanos resorting to hair pulling?" She thought for a moment. "You're right, we'll tie it up. I'll have to tell the lead armorer to allow for a bit more room in the bust. I think you are larger than she is used to. I'll also get you a cord for that tooth." She was tiny next to Proxima but well seasoned in battle, just not brute force. Supergiant was terribly thin but all angles with a sharp and alien face. "This will protect you from claws at least, of which he has many. Do not butt him in the head, the glaive fragments will cut and he has a sharp chin."

"Why are you helping me?"

"I want to see Corvus lisping for a day until he heals. Can you imagine it? Andrega! I am here to collect your tributessss. Your hatchlingsss will be collected in thesssse binssss."

She laughed, it couldn't be helped. Supergiant joined in with that high pitched tone of hers. The laughter faded though as Proxima hit the locks to detach her arm and set it on the bed. It was heavy enough to dent the flat plane of the furniture into a valley between two hills.

"And what was his wager if you lose? Not that you will. You are an asset to the cabal."

"He wants to have dinner with me." Walking without the arm at first was tougher than she anticipated. It was the good bulk of her weight now and she was used to countering it. She wobbled in step.

"You must be joking. You asked for a tooth and bragging rights and he asked to take you to dinner? Is this a courtship thing?"

"I don't know! How would I know? I've never met one of his species."

"Veran. You won't. Veras was destroyed. Corvus was just a small thing when our master found him but the boy showed great promise. Strategy and tactics, intimidation and psychology. He was fed a stream of classes and information, given his weapon, then on his fourteenth birthday he was given a model of Veras and he planned our second strike on the planet himself. Thanos said it was important we followed Corvus' instructions to the letter and when we left it was a dead world. All the Verans and all visitors there had been culled. I doubt there is much surviving history but I suppose I could see if I have anything about their courtship rituals. I tend to find such things disgusting. Fluids and bodies meeting."

"If you would I would be grateful. I admit he has me a bit confused. At first it seemed he wanted to kill me, but when alone with me he seems to drop that entirely and he's all talk."

"You beat him up deary. I believe men like to be toppled in combat. From what I have seen of their thoughts they'd not admit it but..."

She nodded and reached around her head to tie her hair up in a tighter looped ponytail with a bit of cloth. "If that is what they want then he shall have it. I want that tooth."

"He certainly has them to spare." She grinned. "I could posses him?"

"No cheating. I can do this, even if it will be single handed." There sounded out from the hall a loud scream and a few loud thuds. Proxima looked to Supergiant who shrugged and stood, floating through the wall. Darn her. Proxima had to use the door. It beeped as she slammed her palm on the button only to find Maw holding what would be his nose if the man had one, blood dripped from his lip. Corvus stood, robe open to the breeze and taunting Maw by holding one of the man's rings in the tips of his claws. "Well, it seems we are even for your seeing me naked when my arm was being worked on."

Corvus paled, which was damned impressive with his skin tone and Maw took the distraction to swipe back his pilfered jewelry. He slid the ring back on and teleported a few feet away from Corvus just in case. "Terribly unimpressive isn't he?"

"MAW! Keep your mouth shut for once in your life!" Thank the universe he did pull the robe closed as Supergiant materialized where she'd been beside Proxima in a shower of shimmering dots.

"You prepare for our contest by fighting him? He's no challenge. I thought you'd be sparring with your brother."

"I was and then this fool had to mouth off to me! I didn't mean to disturb your preparations. I'm sorry!"

All eyebrows went up. All of them. All different species standing around all stunned because in years of sharing the ship they'd never heard Corvus apologize to anyone but Thanos. Maw's mouth was slack in shock. Supergiant was just silent. 

Poor Black Dwarf was just now stomping down the hall to find his brother and walked upon the scene confused as everyone was so very quiet. 

Proxima broke it. It seemed her occupation on the ship would be the breaker of awkward silences. "Apology accepted. Are you ready? I was thinking we would use room fourteen It has a soft floor." 

He nodded and went to walk beside her while still holding the robe closed. "I can have someone beam me in a bodysuit there. Private match? No unneeded audience."

"That sounds fine by me."

Black Dwarf was still so confused. "What the fekt did I just miss?"

"Your brother is doomed." Maw teleported back to where the other two stood. "He's in love."

**Room 14**

It took little time for Corvus to get dressed, just a skintight black suit he wore under his armor to keep it clean. He'd not wear anything else. The size difference between them became more obvious now that he had no gauntlets, no hood, or mantle. Not a hair on his head and his skin had the texture of slight sandpaper with tiny teeth embedded in it. He was not thin, just slender in every way. What he had was muscle but it hugged tight to his bones. She however was buff, curved in all the ways that showed she'd never had a day of true rest in her life. Swollen with strength and rippling. The most obvious part was above the nub of her missing arm. She'd already built up that shoulder more than the other.

"What are you staring at?"

"You my dear Proxima."

That was unnerving. She walked to him from where she'd gone to give him privacy to change. "Strange man. Are you ready to begin?"

"Of course." They took position a yard away from each other. "Only one rule I'd like to add."

"I had thought this was to be no holds barred. Shall we count this as Arcath sparring style? The last one with any unbroken rib bones wins."

He had to laugh. "You are teasing me. I merely wanted to ban perhaps hitting in certain regions."

"I will be sure not to knee you in that which makes you a male, Corvus." She was smirking. 

"I thank you, now if that is the only rule..." The bastard crouched and swept his leg through hers in a circle. She'd not seen it coming, hell, she didn't know the start had been called so she fell in shock and then growled. The ground was pliant foam but still hard when you hit it all at once.

"You cheat!" She felt a weight on her arm and whipped it to throw him off, he rolled to a stop a short ways away and she was already up on her knees to get to him.

"It is not against the rules if there are no rules!" Shit! He scrambled up as her shoulder plowed into his side like a battering ram. That was one way to deal with a missing arm. He would have gone flying but her weight slammed down, pinning him as she pressed. 

"I should snap your neck again!" She leaned in. That was a mistake. His head snapped forward and butted hers. Those spines above his eyes hurt like hell and she screamed. 

He took any advantage he could and wrapped around her like a vice, his face an inch from hers. "You could concede and have a shared meal with me!!"

"Never!" She managed one bloody eye open just in time to feel him lean in and press his lips to hers. Kisses were pretty cross cultural. She recognized it for what it was instantly and put her hand on his collarbone to shove him back. He fell on his spine, legs crooked in the air like a dying bug. "What the fekt was that!?" Starting to pick up his language. 

"I..." Seems she'd stumped him. Corvus sat up on his hands and knees, neither made a move towards the other. This went on for minutes while they caught their breath. 

"You kissed me." Leave it to her to sound the accusation that breaks the silence. 

"I may have." As if there was any doubt. He looked so defeated there, sitting and looking her over while on his knees. 

"You could concede?" She repeated his words back without any of the fire they'd held when he yelled them. "If you do then perhaps I'll have dinner with you."

Without hesitation he took two clawed fingers into his mouth and snapped them to the left hard. A crunching noise and blood came out in equal measure. Fingers withdrew and then his palm held flat offered her a tooth. It was one of his eyeteeth about two and a half inches long. Only three words from her as she took it.

"Come along then."


	6. First Victory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter marks a point at which I take a vote because I know a few have been following this. I can keep it remotely clean with a fade to black, OR I can write dirty dirty smut and add the appropriate tags. Opinion? Let me hear in the comments!

"So I divided the crowd. Left we focused fire on. The right we didn't harm and only had the guard defend our backs. No attacks. We halved them while at a march. I mean can you imagine? Lined up like a parade. Who sets their cities up along one line like that? They may as well have painted targets on their backs." He had divided his steak in illustration on his plate, the knife stuck into the left half that oozed blood in the incision. He'd ordered it raw and yet because of his sore gums he had to cut up the right half in small bite-sized pieces that he took one at a time and gnashed on the good side of his jaw. Corvus was of an omnivore species but most things besides meat would make him ill. His plate was ninety percent steak by design.

She ate and watched his illustration enraptured by the tale while they sat at the long steel table in the dining hall. Others milled about but no one dared to sit close. "What of those who would flee? See the front line fire would cause some to break from the crowd here, and here, like scared rats. Right around the... what did you call that again?"

"Thats zarr root. It's saccharine sweet, I don't like it but you might. Try a bite? Here." He put a bite of the alarmingly orange root vegetable on his fork and lifted it to her lips while Maw gawked at them from three tables away like the loner in a high school cafeteria. "Those that fled we pelted with layered fire from a line of warships we had hovering over the area. Like it?"

"It's not bad. A little tangy. I like the berries more." She smiled, scooping something red and chunky from her own plate. She was trying a bit of everything so it looked rather like a food-based roulette wheel. "Incendiary rounds I hope?"

"With chemical agents, yes. Gas couldn't be used, but fire was easy to utilize. That smile suits you. I think I may attempt another kiss..." His voice dragged low and thick as he bent to her lips over the table.

Poor Corvus was doomed to be interrupted though as Maw lifted his hand and palmed his face with a shout. "What are you two doing?! He won?! How is that possible?"

Corvus' eyes locked with Proxima's but as his lips opened she answered. 

"It was a stalemate. We both took our prize." She pulled out the cord around her neck and sure enough his tooth dangled from it. They'd had time to change for dinner, back into their armor in preparation for the return to Andrega. She'd knotted it into a small binding of cord then and it hung around her under the neck of her suit where others couldn't see until she bragged over it.

"There is no conceivable way that you miss Proxima, a lethally trained woman of your size and stature and you Corvus, a man looking like a children's stick drawing, are evenly matched." They had definitely battled though. He noticed her eye bruised around the socket and Corvus wincing when he leaned to the side. "This is some sort of trick. None of us had wager on a stalemate!"

"That's what you get for wagering! What were my odds?"

"Your brother was giving miss Proxima four to one to win."

Oh that made her smile. "I couldn't bear to incapacitate him, it would be far less fun eating with a corpse. Besides, we have a mission soon."

"Oh yes, that unfortunate little swamp planet. Things have transpired while you two were 'busy'."

"What?! What could those things have done? They can barely stand up or mate!" He put down the fork. The steak was forgotten now.

"We had two small warships hovering. They took both out with a single energy blast. We are targeting the source but have yet to identify their weapons systems by energy signature. Seems they'd been preparing."

"Has our lord given the order?" He was already stretching in place from side to side. The ribs were healing nicely.

"Yes. I will be accompanying you. The five assembled. No Andregan left alive.. besides the usual acquisitions. The ships are being prepared now. The guard readied. We are taking the threshers as well, and outriders." 

He crossed his arms and slumped in his chair for just a moment. "That is a large force to deal with lizards. Seems the rest of our meal will have to wait." Grumpy. All his research didn't point to such focus in defense preparation, let alone anything adequate to deal with their warships.

"I'll get my spear!" She eagerly jumped up and undid her hair, still pulled up from earlier. Proxima ran only pausing to yell behind her. "We will kill them all together my Corvus!"

Corvus grinned, Maw gawked harder like it was an effort. "My Corvus! Did you hear that 'Ebony'?"

"You look a fool with that gap in your teeth."

"You are just jealous."

**Andrega**

In a great fleet the ships came down, spread apart outside the city like knots on a net. Each one was different than his own personal shuttle. Corvus knew little of technology himself but he knew a nice ship when he saw it and preferred something sleeker and with better cloaking than the carrier ships used to drop the troops and threshers. Stealth was his best option sometimes. "I suppose this will be a good induction into our group."

"I think my losing my arm was my induction." She looked him over from foot to his arms folded in his lap. "You look hesitant. Why?"

He was hiding his eyes but turned his head now to her seat. "I built that chair in myself you know. That's why the control panel doesn't stretch the gap of the cockpit and all the command screens are on the arms or detachable. I have been Thanos' general for much of my life but I knew I would have someone with me eventually. Someone who could challenge me. Someone who wouldn't stab my back when I turn it to them... make no mistake, the others of the order would do so on a whim." 

She stood from the chair and held a hand to him. What was to be said had to be said standing face to face. "This is a choice time to make a declaration of intent. We should be down there drawing first blood." 

He nodded, quiet in her presence as he bent and clutched his glaive in one hand, tapping the ground with it as he straightened like it was a staff. "I enjoy your presence, is all I meant to voice."

She smiled. "I won't let you be hurt." There was that teasing tone again.

"I wasn't speaking of the battle."

"I wasn't either."

That got him to laugh. He reached out and took her hand in his. It was her right hand, the one still flesh and bone and under the armor it was soft and warm. His own was cold and clawed, only three fingers curled around her. What was left to be said could be said later. He heard a noise that rumbled the ship and with the tip of the glaive wielded in an arc he slammed the button. The next moment they were ankle deep in mud on Andrega and they let go of each other's hands.  
A huge yellow beam cut above them clipping his shuttle and sending flaming flak into a wide spray as the metal melted under the force of the beam's concentration. He cussed. He liked that damn ship and now they'd be working on it for weeks. His com buzzed on in everyone's ears. "All to the front! Split formation! Maw find the damn leaders! Supergiant I want you locating and disabling the weapons! Brother kill them all down the front lines!" 

"And me?" Proxima smiled at him and again took his hand for a squeeze.

"You would be wasted anywhere but with my brother in the front. A contest dear Proxima?"

"I do enjoy competition."

"We see how many scales we each can collect. The small ones from their eye sockets only."

"A wonderful challenge. They have such colors." She pulled her spear up and started for the front lines with Black Dwarf at a sprint. Her com buzzed. "I will make beads to go with your tooth."

It made him smile as he went around the edge of the city to look for Maw and the elected leaders. Andrega wouldn't last the night. 

**Ten hours later**

"Mud! Soil! Filth everywhere! I feel it in my armor! It is supposed to be liquid proof! I will question our armorer as to how I have such gaps that mud can penetrate it! There is mud on my weapon! There is mud inside my cloak!"

"Calm. There is mud worse places on me. Brother we will shower." The five all walked, tired as all hell, filthy and covered in blood. Their feet met the floor with wet slaps and two custodial teams were already following them down the hall with mops and equipment as they traipsed to the bridge. 

"I thought that was quite fun. Though I didn't get as many scales as I'd have liked." Proxima was already polishing her spear to a high shine while she walked.

"I should have said eyes. Easier to collect. You simply poke your thumb in to the bend and curl it then pull the thing out of the socket."

"Easier for you and your claws, my spear incinerates even their bones."

"Will you both be quiet? We must report and then gain some rest. You don't know what it is like to have beings screaming in your mind as you all rip their limbs apart." Supergiant's uniform was worse than most because of the sheer amount of white now turned earthy brown.

"Sorry."

"Brother do not apologize!" Corvus stopped outside the bridge door and took a deep breath. The others aside from Proxima nodded in unison to an unasked question. She had yet to learn how things always went and so was left a bit confused. He hit the button and the sliding door rose into the ceiling panels. Corvus strutted inside, tall and looking less weary than he did outside the doors though no less covered in dirt.

"Is it done?" He'd not been working, again sitting at the windows looking out towards their next destination. Most of the crew didn't know about Thanos' lust for Death but Corvus knew whom he was hoping to see when he looked out at the stars. In the corner today sat two children. Nebula and Gamora. They were huddled close. The children had probably heard the battle going on far below them through his communication with the ship. 

The others took formation behind Corvus like a fan opened. "It is done. Andrega is no more. Final cleansing is being carried out and I bring you the skulls of their leaders as ornament. They are being polished and stripped of flesh on the slaughter deck. Their deaths honor you and are but a portion of what we offer. The weapons are being dismantled now to be brought on board, as well as records and scientific knowledge from their libraries." He bowed at his waist, dripping mud and blood froth onto the floor. "We the five assembled to your glory, a monument to your.."

"Corvus?"

"Yes our supreme leader?"

"Go bathe. Then you can show me what you found. And that cloak is looking rather mangled."

"I rather enjoy my cloak." He smiled, bowed his head and shuffled out with the rest of them amid groans of exhaustion. 

Proxima caught his hand as he walked. "Come to my room, I have a shower."

Odd how Maw and supergiant went quiet, listening in just then. He felt mental prodding and sighed. Goddamned telepath. "I will come to you, my dear Proxima. Go ahead and have a robe sent for. I must share a word with The Maw."

She nodded, walked to get out of the filthy suit and into some water. Ebony wasted no time teleporting back from the man and adjusting his shield. Last time Corvus had managed to snatch it before he could activate it.

"Fekt you too, you pompous rear end! What Proxima and I do in the privacy of her room is our business alone."

"She is just asking if you would care to use her shower, aren't you presumptuous? Your looks have served as the world's best protection against physical intimacy thus far in your life. It would be foolhardy to think that is what she wants."

"Not everyone likes the needles and gets off when torturing prisoners, Maw. Some of us require a willing partner to become erect!"

"I heard you may have some problems with that. I'd advise a trip to the chemical deck."

Supergiant finally rolled her eyes. "Men. Is this how you show friendship? By turning the dagger in each other's backs? Also, I have it on good authority that everyone likes the needles."

Corvus actively flinched recalling the day he was altered by the weapon. 

"Oh stop that. You are not little Nebula. Your failures are minimal and your alterations are complete. You wish to rub your situation in the Maw's nose, but spare us those tidings and go to her. Or do you delay because you are nervous?"

"Stay out of my mind or so help me you will be Gamora's sparring partner this coming cycle!" She would be.

"The great squawking bird is nervous you say my dear?" Ebony looked delighted. "We have found something the great Corvus fears?'

"You are both imbeciles. It's been many cycles since you raided my planet so you were either ill informed or short of memory. There is reason for my hesitance. My species mates for life!"

He stormed off to her room leaving the other two in his wake and performing a rude gesture with his hands. His brother had continued his trek far ahead of them to his own quarters, perhaps maw would now seek him out for another game of chess and some questions that required answers.


	7. First Intimacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you wanted to stop reading before the sex scenes this is the chapter you stop at. Warning for full steam ahead.

"I will set the board." Black Dwarf settled in his seat clothed in his post shower robes. He pressed a few buttons on the table in his quarter and the chess set hummed to life, its three tiers all ready for their match. Everyone was ready for quiet while the Sanctuary IV started course to the new destination.

Maw preffered the observation decks. Dwarf's quarters were oversize to accommodate its resident. Everything was sturdily built, large and for that reason the space seemed cramped. He'd brought in a smaller chair just for when Maw or someone his stature came in to visit and talk but it looked like a child's seat among adult furniture. "Thank you. I come baring tea and questions."

"Questions about my brother I take it?" He reached over the table and moved a pawn, eager to get the match going.

"You are most astute. What gave me away?" He was going to ponder his move a moment before actually making it and stared at the board in thought.

"It's the opening move, no need to worry so much at only the start of something. As for my brother, you two fight quite a lot. Oddly less so recently. I think Proxima is the change."

Maw slid a pawn to the center. "A change indeed. You think she takes the fight from him?"

"Quite the opposite. I think in his mind he is always in battle, but you must realize by now that when he goes quiet is when you must truly worry about him finding a throat to rip." He slid another out, trying to lure Maw in. "Her though, he is less interested in beating and more into acquiring now. I think he would be good for her and she for him. He needs someone."

"And his specie..." He received _the look_ and rephrased. "Your species, both of you included, you traditionally mate for life?" He took one of Dwarf's pawns.

He nodded. "If one is worthy then there is no reason to ever let go of them. There is a ceremony and two are bonded. Our planet traded heavily and had a lot of migration. Really the ceremony is a blend of a hundred or so customs. A little of everything, but marriage is common among most species. Not so strange a concept to even the Ebony Maw." The board lit up and one of Black Dwarf's piece's teleported, superimposed upon a yet-to-be-moved one of Maw's. His eyes turned red for a moment.

"Ah, seems the cycle favors me!" That excitement faded fast when he looked up. Corvus was very right about his brother's temper. "I did not do it! I'm not wearing my tech ...ring." He held his hand up. Oops, there it was. The ring that let him control his terminals and hack many systems. "Honest mistake?"

"Reset the board. Hands above the table." He folded his arms. "And leave my brother and his mate be."

**Proxima's quarters**

The shower hissed and Proxima was already enjoying it. She ducked her body in under the spray entirely and groaned as all the dirt washed out of her hair coloring the water a dull beige. It was worth killing worlds and serving Thanos just for the hot showers. 

Outside her personal bathroom Corvus almost tripped on the discarded suit. Messy. Did this mean he was to strip and join her? He'd hoped to have a word with her first before intimate situations. Carefully he leaned the glaive beside her spear on the wall and called in. "Proxima?" He stopped at the door though. It was open, folded into the ceiling, but he'd go no further. 

"Corvus? Come in. You have seen me naked before." She rubbed the water on her face and looked to see his back. He was looking away? "What is wrong?" The system beeped, the water off as she grabbed a towel.

"I wished to speak with you."

"Like the talk you wished before our last mission?" She smiled, her lips upturned only slightly.

"Exactly like that one, Proxima." He moved over to rest his back beside the side of the door, his arms crossed and those claws wrapped over his gauntlets on each opposing forearm. She was still naked and he was trying not to fixate but his teeth clenched between words. 

"You would stand there against the walls instead of having a shower with a woman fully willing to spend the night with you in her bed? Talk is cheap, Corvus." She placed a hand beside his shoulder, leaning down to kiss him but he blocked with a hand. His palm bumped her lips and she was downright furious for a moment.

"It would not be one night. I could not have one night of you and then be done. I saw you kill and murder your way through a crowd of men and I reacted wrong. I took something from you in anger knowing full well that Thanos might bring you aboard... I tried to stay angry at you. I antagonized you, yet you just walked around without a care. You went on missions with me completely unafraid of me, enticing me..."

"If I entice you then what are you waiting for?"

"I love you, my dear Proxima. I would wish to be yours as my master wishes to be one with death. Eternally, completely, in perpetuum... why are you laughing?!"

She was laughing, leaning on that metal hand on the wall, her face perhaps a foot from his. "You are always so serious when you don't need to be and you are comical when death is on the line. There is no in between with you is there?"

"I am as I have been taught."

"I am not your almighty 'master' Thanos. I am here to survive, and to kill, and enjoy myself." Her other hand, the one still warm and alive crept up to the neck of his cloak, pushing it back over his head and finally falling down to the floor in a muddy heap as she undid the clasp. "You want me for eternity? Show me you can please me, Corvus."

He undid his gauntlets, letting them fall to the ground. The other pieces of his armor followed one by one as she smiled at him. Boots kicked to the side and the undersuit the last piece to go. They'd made a mess of her floor and he didn't care now. His hands found her hips, three fingers and claws grasping but not harming her as he pulled and they pressed together, chest to chest to kiss with her head bent down. She was warm, soft of skin but scarred and toned. Her arms formed a cage around his shoulders that he found comforting. 

Their lips tangled long and sweet and he was careful not to nick her with his bottom teeth. After a moment she realized his eyes were open and he was playing with her hair twirled around two of his fingers. "You enjoy my hair?"

"Extremely so. On some beings it is repulsive, but on you it is soft and deepest blue like the sky." He twirled it again and let it slip free of his fingers. Only a second later and he jolted, leaning into her shoulder with his claws dug lightly in her back. Her hand found no hair to play with, instead a very sensitive part of his anatomy that had been close to digging into her thigh.

"So smooth. I was worried you would have barbs." Her thumb moved over the head of it, more pointed than such a thing would be on a male of her species, a line-like ridge ran the underside of him with small bumps the size of pearls spaced slightly apart. They felt like bone, hard in the softness of his skin and shifting. When she rubbed them he sucked a breath in sharply. "You like that?"

"Yes.. please Proxima. Your bed?" He almost stuttered as she did it again. It was hard to form words.

She pulled him, led him by her fingers wrapped around his length to her bed. It was simply efficient, just a gel mattress, sheets, a blanket, and now her laying on her back and sprawled out for him to look upon. Her knees were oddly propped and she leaned up upon her elbows to watch as he slid on his knees onto the bed after her. Proxima thought he'd get right to it the way he was wound up like a tightly coiled spring but he grasped a knee and kissed his way down to her center so he could lap at her with his tongue. 

It was euphoric, his rough tongue languidly stroking over her sex and dipping in just a bit to taste her. Never had she experienced a male this way, only her own fingers or certain toys. This was so much better. "Corvus!" He looked up, his lips nibbling while those red eyes of his watched her stretch on the bed with her arms crossed over her head. Best damn thing he'd ever seen. Trying not to smile was tough so he concentrated instead, scratching her thighs with claws and rubbing closer to that delightful groove where her thighs curved. She gripped the sheets and he buried his tongue hard against her, wiggling it and making her writhe until she couldn't take any more. 

She gasped for air and grasped his chin, tilting it up so she could look down at him and pull him up. He obeyed, of course, slinking up stealthily like a spider and kissing her neck. She was entirely wet, it was easy to find his place and her feet propped on his ass to guide him. Corvus slid in slow, each little bump on the underside of his manhood pushing inside her in turn. Excruciatingly close together finally when he found himself hilted in her. Their entire bodies pressed sweaty on the bed. "I love you." He paused just to speak it and she touched his face. 

"My Corvus, let me take all of you." Her reply made him smile and he rocked his hips, dexterous and thin enough to fit between her thighs well, just thick enough that those bumps stroked her as he thrusted. Each little node rubbed and made her gasp. Each of her gasps made him shudder and claw into the bed. He worked up a pace, harder each time, never pausing but still her heels dug into his hips and urged him faster, harder. Her hands left marks in his skin that would heal in time, for now he'd wear the bruises as proudly as the battle scars he was peppered with. 

"Proxima!" He buried his head into her neck when she came, the glaive fragment on that side of his head pressed sharp against her shoulder while she squeezed around him and gasped. He kept going, pace frantic now and each thrust as deep as he could manage. "Corvus, come..." Her voice was exhausted, weak but it worked. He bucked his hips, snarled loudly, and came inside her with a few short pulses. The world glowed, an electric sensation up his spine and then bliss and calm. She was still so tight around him he could hardly withdraw so he didn't. He laid down on top of her, panting for air and then laughing in a small chuckle. A man of so many words reduced to growls, it was amusing.

"You laugh? You insane man..." She grabbed a pillow and whacked him in the head with it.

"It is a joyous laugh. This is the best I've felt in a long while." He looked up to the sound of ripping, realizing too late one of his glaive fragments had stuck the poor pillow. He laid his had back down with a contented sigh.

"I will need new cushions, sharp as you are." She tossed the ripped one to the floor and watched him with his head at her neck, just above her breasts. He rose and fell as she breathed. It was cute. In an odd sort of way he was cute. He looked so very tired. His hands rested on her chest, curled. "Sleeping on me and in me?" 

"I do not wish to be parted and you are so very comfortable. Give me time and I can go again, my love. I just... need rest." Liar, there was no going again tonight. The world seemed to hum to him and lull him into a deep sleep. Everything felt lighter, cooler yet warm and not so harsh.

"Sleep, Corvus." She rubbed his head with her fingers and she swore for a moment he purred like a cat. The glaive and her spear both stood leaned against the wall together beside the heap of clothing to be dealt with in the morning.


	8. First Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1: I would feel bad about making up planet names and BS if that wasn't exactly what Marvel did anyways. 2: If Corvus and Proxima were married before a big dangerous mission I feel like they'd only grow closer during it. Probably their favorite times are being in battle together. 3: Thanos strikes me as that boss who pretends to be your buddy and then just fucks you over royally and watches you scramble to keep up.

**Seven hours later**

"To hell with breakfast. I want to be back in bed with you." Poor Corvus. Six hours of sleep then he was up, washed, and clothed. A fast check on his troops, his shuttle's repairs, the armory, and then he could finally join Proxima for breakfast, if he could manage to stay awake. 

"You were going to show me some of the training rooms today, and your files, and the armory." She was one step ahead of him and already had her plate in hand, half eaten. She sat ot one of those long metal tables in the mess hall, clothed but casually, her hair pulled up and combed.

"I will do all those things, my love. Just please let me sit for a moment and have a meal." He sat stiffly beside her, just a small plate of raw meat and a glass of brown and soupy looking liquid.

"Corvus?" She sighed and eyed his plate and cup as he settled into a seat. "Is that Haryack? Isn't that terribly inebriating?" 

"Just a little drink with my mea... hey!! Hey what are you doing?!" She'd snatched his cup and poured it out on the ground. They were attracting eyes again.

"I'd hoped the drinking wasn't a habit with you. You are a general, you have men to lead." The cup was placed back down, empty.

"I lead them well! We are a cycle from the next planet and it keeps me awake!"

"Leave it be. Eat, show me around the ship and I will have a drink with you when we crawl in bed together tonight."

"We together? You mean...?" Forget the damned drink. He was grinning now and wrapping his arms around her as she smiled. "Perhaps we should join quarters?"

"You sound like an adolescent Terran, Corvus. Do try to keep from salivating." Maw by this point may be making this a running joke of interrupting them. His species didn't even sleep so it was quite easy. He was clothed, hair brushed, arms folded impatiently in front of him already even though he'd only just now spoken up. The teleporting had ceased to be a habit and was now just a facet of dealing with him. He'd just plain not been there a second prior.

"What do you want now Maw. Can't you see we're busy?" He didn't even let go of Proxima. He was running his claws through her hair again and grinning wide.

"I was sent to fetch our newest general. She is to spar with the girl today while I teach form."

"That's Supergiant's duty. We all agreed since she can go incorporeal..." 'All' meaning him. He agreed and volunteered her. A light growl slipped out and Maw raised a brow at it.

"She refuses. Something about lacking rest due to noises? Growling she spoke of. Oddly enough miss Proxima your quarters are next to hers. Perhaps you heard something?" He smirked. He knew damn well what those noises indicated now. 

"I will come along then. I don't mind the spar, Corvus. Just so long as we will still make rounds later."

"I will speak to my group leaders and follow to guide the sessions..." Corvus was grinding his jaw again in frustration.

"That will not be necessary. I am certain Miss Proxima will be a fine assistant and with only one pupil this will be far from commanding battlefields of soldiers."

She looked at Corvus and shrugged as she slipped out of his arms. "Tonight then. Your quarters. I will bring the drink. Finish your meal. I will be there." She took her spear from her seat and stood to follow Maw down the hall.

Corvus nearly whined. Could he get five damn minutes with her to talk about what last night meant? He picked up his glaive, plate abandoned yet again. 

"Sir?" A Chitauri stepped up behind him and without pause the glaive swung in a close circle. The sharp edge near the gold scrollwork severed his head from his body and sent it rolling under a table. 

Breakfast in the hall continued as usual. 

**Elsewhere:**

"You're blue."

"And you are green, and small. What is your point?"

The child, only thigh level to Proxima clutched a short silver sword with both hands and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Are you related to Supergiant? Or Nebula?" Her voice was light, like the tinkling of a bell.

"No." Proxima leaned on her spear, somewhat amused by this standoff.

"Why does everyone have to be blue? Why can't more people be green?"

"Dear Gamora. There are many green species among our crew. Now, should you not try to practice your form?" Maw had taken a vantage point from the back of the room. There he stood watch like a less than intimidating scarecrow in a cornfield already picked clean.

"You're with Corvus? Whhhhhy?" She stuck out her tongue yet again.

Proxima frowned. "You should be more focused on your training. Where is the other small one?" She turned to Maw.

He crossed his arms. "Nebula lost their last competition. She is having a few repairs and modifications done. She will be functional by tomorrow's session." 

Gamora did not like the new topic and made it known by launching her short sword toward Maw's head. He clicked his ring in the nick of time, appearing across the room with an utterly offended look on his face. The sword stuck out of the wall panel, only the tip embedded. 

"She's not bad. I can work with this."

"She threw a dagger at my head! It would have hit had I not reacted fast."

"Yes, we will have to work on her speed. Now, small one, your weapon." Proxima pulled it out of the wall and passed it down handle first. "Never let your weapon go. You cannot trust anyone with your safety. This is your life you hold. Wield it right and it can extinguish other's lives. Take pose, let's begin."

**Across the ship:**

"She poured it right over the floor..."

"She is right you know, we can't have a repeat of last incident." Thanos was at the windows again. Out of his armor and watching the stars leave white streaks in the sky as the ship flew.

"I have a leader's right to that which keeps me in peak shape."

"And the Haryack alcohol does this how? Because I recall your being late when I called the four. I do not tolerate lateness."

"That was once." Corvus leaned with his elbows on his knees, a flask in his hand. He'd taken a seat even if their master did not. The two had a long history now and he saw no reason to remain so stoic with the other eyes not on him. Thanos was safety to Corvus so long as he did not fail the man. "We are the five now."

"And how are you and Proxima?" Thanos kept his vigilant watch out the windows as he spoke.

"You ask that full well knowing that I slept in her quarters." He made a face and took a drink out of his flask, swallowing it down hard. 

"Of course. I must still ask. Others are not quite so serious about sex, Corvus."

"Like you, with your women on the third deck.." He looked up and almost choked at the glare he obtained. "You are serious about Death."

"That I am, and do you love her as I love Death."

He gripped the flask tight and took a deep breath. "I fear I do."

"Then you should probably put away the alcohol."

God dammit, he hated it when Thanos was right about personal matters. In a show of stubbornness and objection he moved to the wall and placed the flask in the tools storage airlock. A button and the compartment closed then opened outside the hull. He watched it hiss and float off. "Next you will all tell me to file my claws."

"I highly doubt that. Though we'd all enjoy the air a bit more if you washed your cloak. Should we ready a ceremony?"

"it is clean enough. I washed it after the mission... ceremony? I have not been able to ask her."

"You didn't ask her last night?"

Corvus shook his head and retook his former seat. "I did not get a chance. She pulled me in, thralled me it seems. I wish a ceremony but, I know we killed her betrothed and she may reject such a thing with me. I have barely known her as well, she may decline based on that or if I am not physically ideal. Females are discriminating and males have to worthy."

Thanos perked up a purple brow. His general, the man who slaughtered women and children, armies, worlds, that man was sitting here nervous over being rejected? "As I seek to be worthy of Death, you should seek to be worthy of her. Then if your worthiness is without question there will be no asking. It will be a certainty."

"You think so?"

He nodded his head. "Now go tell the others. I've made some corrections, by cycle's end we'll be at Engelhem."

"Engelhem? We're seeking tribute there?!"

Thanos nodded silently, his calm a stark contrast to Corvus' newly found nervousness. His generals never showed such emotion, surely Corvus above all would remain calm. But he wasn't and it showed. Claws flexed, feet shifted, and he felt around his teeth with his tongue. 

"It's her test. Isn't it? She has not passed a trial yet like the rest of us? Master she is mortal! She's lost an arm already what if she doesn't pass?!"

"Corvus, this brings me no joy. You know that, but I must know my generals are capable. If you feel fear for her over this then I will allow you a favor. Just one, as a kindness."

**Later:**

There came a pounding at Proxima's door. She'd spent hours with the girl and was honestly face down on her bed when the noise had startled her. Not even in uniform she stripped to put on some of the soft robes that others wore after showers. The door raised and Corvus was standing there in full battle gear, weapon in hand. "Corvus. I'm sorry I forgot about our evening. I didn't get any drink. Gamora is a pest and.. Hey! Don't push me!"

"Sit! We must talk before the Maw finds me again or some other disaster erupts or we reach cycle's end and the ship stops! What are you wearing?! Wait, don't sit. Get your uniform on! Where is your spear?!" He took his hand off her chest where he'd been steering her back into her quarters and clenched his claws into fists at his side.

"I thought we were to relax? Have you been drinking already? Maw is having it cleaned. The grips became a bit loose during the match. He said he will have it back to me."

"Soon? We will need it."

She sat back on the bed and reached forward with her prosthetic hand to grip his collar. He was soon forced into a sitting position beside her perched on the bed's edge. "Speak. No more nagging."

"We are headed to Engelhem. It's a warrior's world. Nearly the opposite of yours. Male dominant, dry terrain, major sources of weapons technology. It is your test, for becoming one of the five. As my slaughtering my entire home world was with my strategic ability. You were to go alone."

"Were?"

"Were. I am going with you. It will be just us. No Chitauri. No soldiers. No ships. We will be dropped outside their senate and then picked back up after one cycle if we survive. If I do not then my glaive has a homing beacon and they will retrieve it."

She could see where this was going. "So that you can regenerate here. But there is no such regeneration for me." Proxima stood, flexed her arm feeling the metal curvature. "Very well. I will slaughter them all. Make a game of it? You enjoy eyes, I will collect those for you."

That was comforting. It made him smile a little. "Before that, before we are dropped on that planet there is a ceremony if you would choose it. Something from my culture since we are mates now."

"Corvus. Last night was wonderful but you are speaking of a bonding already?"

"Marriage. Yes. I cannot make you agree. It is the female's place to choose, but if anything should happen I will be without the rights of a mate unless we do this and we are... we were.. last night."

"We were intimate." She was pacing, thinking.

"I like the way you put it better than the words others choose. I never got to speak on it, how deeply serious a thing that is. How it made me feel my love for you more strongly." He had clasped his hands together now. The smile was gone. It was as if he was in prayer.

"We have barely known each other, Corvus." She saw him flinch. "But I had barely seen my betrothed either. I knew his name, got to shake his hand. All else would have been after the ceremony. I hated that tradition. I had always thought that to find one you love perhaps even a single night of intimacy would be better than nothing."

Corvus looked up, hopeful. "You love me?"

She moved over to take his hands, one in each of hers. One of hers was warm, soothing, the other cold, but strong, protective. "Ready this ceremony before our mission. I will do this and from here on..." She leaned in and kissed the spines on his forehead above his eyes. "You will have been my betrothed if anyone speaks on my life. My husband."

"You swear it? My wife."

"I do, Corvus. You are a better man than I thought and I trust you. Trust is not something that comes easily to me." Her hand stroked his cheek down to the sharp and hard point of his chin. "The past doesn't matter now. If not for you I'd be alone here with no one I believe would actually be a shield for my back."

"Without you here I fear I would feel the same way. I will ready the ceremony. There is little time to waste." He tried to get up but an arm pushed him back down and he fell on his back on the bed.

"There is some small bit of time surely?" She tilted her head with a smile and hooded eyes.

"Perhaps... a pittance." He smiled and his wording caused her to chuckle as she slid onto the bed after him.


	9. first Vows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not as long as I could probably have inflated it to but I think it wraps up how I feel these two are. I really hope you enjoyed reading this and an extra thanks to those who have been commenting and encouraging me. Definitely motivated me to complete what I wanted to do with the story <3

"There are no flowers. This is impossible."

"What do you mean no flowers? What about the ones from the replicator?"

"I have already tried this, Supergiant. They created a flower-like construct but that is not good enough it seems for 'The Glaive'." Maw sneered but at best he was mildly annoyed by this entire thing. The ceremony he'd gotten instructions for was horribly complex and a blend of three languages. It required a podium, specific music, flowers of all things! You know how many flowers there were even on the decks where plants were harvested? None. Vegetable plant blossoms, yes. Ornamental flowers grown for beauty? None. It would be a waste of space and space was a luxury on the ship. They'd gained the use of a large briefing room that was in various states of disorder and not at all suited to a wedding.

"He will deal with it." She hissed and tried to look over Maw's shoulder. "Ribbon?"

"Flat rope. That should be simple enough to set up. This ceremony says it requires a knife? Hmmm... perhaps I have been too harsh in my judgement. No jewelry. I've heard some species do that. There was one species on my world that pierced their earlobes together and looped a chain between the new couple. Rather glad that is not required here though I think I still have most of Corvus' ears in a jar somewhere."

Supergiant shook her head, perplexed. This whole thing was sudden and a pain in the rear. "That seems as though it would be quite impossible to get around chained to another's ears."

"It would be. Indeed, usually one would tear the chain from the other and then that one was to wear their injury as a focus point and the other was to be subservient in the relationship." 

"A novel way to decide who's in charge."

He flipped through his file again on the small system tablet he held. "So abandoning the flowers. We have no time for a meal, he said we'd do that when they return."

"Where is the mission?"

"Engelhem, I am tempted to take orbit and survey the progress however I fear their defense targeting would detect my shuttle. Still, I would love to be a bega on the wall for this."

Supergiant crossed her arms and huffed. "If Proxima does not make it out of this alive I am going to club you once at least with Dwarf's weapon."

"You jest?"

"No. Years I've been the only woman of power among the cabal. I was relieved when she joined, even if she does let Corvus between her thighs in a display of the worst taste in men imaginable. Here you are giddy at her being sent to a proving ground."

"We will still have these delightful talks yet if she fails..." He sneered as he talked.

"Yes we will, you will sadly be the closest thing to another female around here."

"I've been saying that for years!" Corvus strolled through the hall doors, a slice of some beast in the side of his teeth dripping blood down his cheek while he adjusted his armor and still held his glaive. Too many tasks, too few limbs. He finished fastening the gauntlet and tossed his head back, spearing the meat on his teeth and gulping it down whole like a shark walking upright. 

"I do wish you would not do that." Supergiant looked disgusted. "I will never understand how a species cannot chew their meal."

"I don't have time to worry about chewing properly. That was just something I grabbed while on the slaughterdeck acquiring a knife, enough to keep me going. Did you two prepare the ceremony? Find any damned flowers?" He reached around and holstered the glaive at his back. There, that would do nicely for now.

Maw shook his head no and glanced over the list again passively. "Most of this isn't possible. We have no musicians, this is a warship. Flowers are not happening, especially not ones native to your planet, nor hers. Have you considered...?"

"Sewing your mouth shut? Often."

Ebony Maw was just about a hundred percent done with Glaive's shit and it showed on his face as easy to read as a children's book. He was always the easiest to interpret. "You are one of only two of your culture remaining. Why don't you just, as the young soldiers say, 'make shit up'."

"Ooooh he is right you know." Supergiant clasped her hands together. "You both could do whatever it is you wanted and none would question it."

Corvus seemed on edge but was contemplating this. "Call everyone then. We only have an hour. We will just do the important part."

"Excellent, Miss Proxima is with our master already. He heard something about the tradition of leaders walking the bride to the podium. I will contact them now." Maw wiggled his fingers and the fake replicated flowers were lifted into the cups on either side of the room. His kinetic ring glowed.

Corvus walked over, studying the false plants. "You're going to give our master ideas with those rings..." Hmmm, he pulled something from his pocket and flicked it, setting the flowers on fire in the cup. "That's better!"

"We spent time replicating those!"

"You said to improvise! I like fire!"

**A short while later:**

Proxima took a deep breath. This was all a bit much. Thanos reassured her and walked as best he could with a hand on her shoulder. She was in her uniform, her weapon holstered and a pack at her side with a few meager supplies. Firefuel, some Haur nuts, a bottle of wine, and her communicator, nestled among rope and a bit of cloth. Her gait was wide compared to his. Due to his size to keep pace he had to walk much slower. He'd dressed up for the occaision in gold armor that reflected every light above him. It was difficult to look at him.

"So long as you love each other it will help you both in my service. Corvus has long been such a dedicated general, I can't imagine this would distract him. And you? You will continue to lead the charge, to scour planets for their sacrifices and offer those needed in my name."

"And why do you require such sacrifices?" She looked up into his face. He wasn't easy to read. The opposite of Maw.

"Because Death holds my heart as Corvus does yours." 

She understood. Some goddess of Death then? A show of affection. She nodded but her brow knotted in thought. "Are we to take all of Engelhem?"

"Only a portion. What you can. We will see what you have accomplished when you return. Now..." With one gold-gloved fist he pushed the button for the door and the hall inside was ridiculous. A podium in black with intricate carvings, what seemed like torches to the sides of the room, Corvus standing there in armor with blood on his lips from a meal and Supergiant standing with Maw apparently tangled in a wad of ribbon, their hands bound though not intentionally. There was a mess of voices but all the arguing and commotion stopped when Thanos came in with Proxima. She shook her head, her hand holding the bridge of her nose. 

"My love I..."

"Save it for later, Corvus. This is to be a bonding, not a festival. Cleaning all this up will take the slaves hours." Thanos was chuckling behind her. They were all like children. "We have little time the mission is prepared. Come now."

Proxima took her spot there with Corvus and he reached out, her hands in his gloved ones. One cold, the other warm. A permanent reminder of what he'd done. He appeared hesitant and whispered. "We cannot begin without my family here."

"I'm here brother." Black Dwarf ducked in from the hall. "I was just decorating your shuttle. I think it is tradition."

"Thank you, brother." Corvus smiled and released her hands. He pulled off his glove, staring at his real hand. Skin and claws wrapped tight as cellophane over straw-like bones. He drew the ceremonial knife from his hip and cut his palm, nodding to her.

She caught on fast and pulled off her glove holding her hand out for him to cut. Blood in shades of red and blue mingled as he sheathed the dagger and pressed his hand to hers. Their fingers entertwined tightly. A blood bond and then vows. Of course he'd written none, and he could not ever recall actually attending a bonding. Improvise. He could do that. He did it all the time. Life was war and war was strategy. 

"Proxima Midnight, my wife. I take you to stand beside me in battle. To trust above all others. To always dine first at my table and have the last word in my choices. To greet each day with you wrapped around me." He smirked. "To be defeated by no others. To only be defeated by you, my dear." His hand tightened around hers causing his blood to gush and drip.

"Corvus Glaive." She looked him up and down, the smile and the armor. "Impossible man that you are. To stand beside in battle. To trust above all others. To dine at my table and give last word to our planning. To end each day with you wrapped around me. To never be defeated, for I must always carry your weapon for you if you are." 

He had to laugh at her changes to his words though they both turned their head when they heard a sniffle and a nose wiped. Black Dwarf had a small square of cloth at least. "Sorry. That was beautiful." 

Maw shook his head. How the hell had he gotten wrapped up in this? Mating procedure he understood. This was just superfluous. 

"Well come on then. I believe you are supposed to kiss." Thanos clapped his hands together and the couple pulled back on their gloves and leaned in. It was such a small thing, just a little dusting of their lips against each other that they paused in. "I believe as leader and captain I can pronounce you man and wife. Prepare for departure, may you both return to me alive."

They still held hands as they walked out, even with the cuts still stinging under the cloth and metal. Just a short ways to the shuttle bay. "This is going to be difficult."

"My love, I'm quite aware. I have a few strategies I have devised that may be able to lend some help perhaps."

"I was not speaking of the mission, dear Corvus." She paused and pulled her hand away but only to open the shuttle door. She took the copilot's seat just as she had before. The one he'd built into the shuttle after his own with its added panels. 

"I would gladly bear any adversity to be with you." He flipped the controls with his sharpened claws and stared at her before he took his seat. The glaive came off his back, holstered against the chair instead. She noticed there was a place for her spear as well and put it there, vertical beside his glaive. 

"You added that for me."

"Of course."

"Corvus. When?" She crossed her arms accentuating the size difference between them.

"When the shuttle was being repaired." He drummed his fingers on the console.

"Before we slept together?"

"Had we not, dear Proxima, you can rest assured that I would still want you here. You are skillful in battle. Probably the most skilled of the five now. I would be a fool to not see that. A larger fool to waste such potential for my own anger and... my ego."

She smiled. "I merely wanted to hear you say it loudly. You are a skilled general. You would know aptitude upon sight of it." Something rattled beneath her seat and she folded in, bending down to see it. "Bombs?"  
Corvus chuckled. "A marriage gift from my brother, I have no doubt."

"I like your brother. This is the sort of wedding shuttle decoration I can get behind." She relaxed in the chair, extending her arm over the side of her chair limply. He took it in his and press his lips against it. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing your hand. We have time before the shuttle lands and we are husband and wife now." He relinquished it but she pressed it flat against his cheek and scratched by the glaive fragment.

"Do it again then, if we have time before the slaughter."

He chuckled again and beamed. "Yes dear."

**Epilogue:**

Maw stood in his fine-pressed tunic punching in code with two other men, slaves who worked the transporter room. Thanos stood close by looking a bit impatient in his armor.

"I have a lock on the glaive. I'm not seeing Corvus." His eyes flashed across three screens. Where was that man?

"Bring it in then. He had one day. If they are both gone we'll prepare a new suit of armor for him once he regenerates."

"Wait, my most capable master. I have someone. Transporting them now." They were taking no fire, no damage. Shields seemed to be up on the city beneath them yet no attacks were coming. Yet. He read life signs, infrequent and far between. The buttons clicked, the teleporter purred to life, and slowly in the haze Proxima stood dripping from head to toe in blood. Her blue hair was plastered to her skin, in her hands two weapons. One, her spear, the other her husband's glaive with no sign of him.

"You survived. Well done! I would expect no less from a member of my order. What happened to Corvus?"

"Died during the night. Spinal injury. Has to regenerate." She shifted, tired. Maw reached for the glaive but she pulled it back. "My vows. I hold it until he is with me. We took out half the city, all the missile silos, their laser targeting fields, and their hospital." She stood tall. "The last one was his idea. Something about intimidation and society's most vulnerable. May I have a shower until he returns?"

"Of course. So you took out half the city nearly alone?"

She nodded. Maw beamed from his position at the consoles. "I knew you would be an asset! You and Corvus have earned your rest." 

Thanos raised a brow at Maw speaking out of turn but nodded as well and waved his hand. Proxima couldn't wait any more. She went for her quarters and sat the Glaive on her bed looking at it. "I wouldn't let you be hurt. You know that." She spoke as she unlatched her arm and sat it on the floor with a loud clunk. The suit came next, blood crusted and dried it to her skin so it was stiff in parts and sticky. It hit the floor with her glove and boots. Naked and into the shower and the warm water as she thought on last night.

"We should have managed more by now. Thanos will be displeased with me." Corvus crouched by her in the small shelter they'd found. His hand held an energy bar out to her. 

She'd not eaten nor rested and sat on her ass with her legs folded. The bar was bland, but good, crunchy with a salty coating. "Why would he be displeased? This is my test."

"I am the general, the strategist, my dear. The experienced one. He expects the city at least to be dead and we have only managed to wound it in the most superficial of ways." He placed a clawed hand on her back and reached in his supplies for the alcohol he'd brought. No reason to not have a drink. "I will have to atone. I will ensure you are fine."

"And if there were only one of us?" She swallowed the last bite and reached for his flask. The snack was dry, she needed something to wash it down.

It was handed over and she gulped a bit, replacing the cap to sit it down in the rubble they used for a seat. "He would expect half as much progress..." He looked up, understanding gained in the second before her spear went cleanly through him. Blood hit the ground in a rough spurt and he hissed as his eyes rolled back in his head.

"I will protect you." She muttered in the shower, an echo of her memory. The water pipes squeaked off and she heard a groan. Proxima looked out into her room tentatively, like she expected something to jump. There on the bed sprawled out was Corvus, his skin stretching over bone and reaffixing itself. Claws regrew, eyes slowly formed. She sat down on the bed beside him and laid her hand over his. "Even if I have to defeat you, I will protect you."

"It...was..in..our...vows..." Lungs reformed and filled with air though he still wheezed. "Was not...thinking you would be so literal."

"I am always literal, my love."

"Remind me to teach you how to joke, and to watch my back." He stayed still. Tired and still mending so she crawled in bed next to him and gently laid her hand over his chest. He smiled and placed his over hers, closing his eyes.

"Just rest."

"I shall... end my day with you entwined around me, just as you vowed." His hand lazily rubbed hers and she leaned her head down to give him a kiss on those spines on his forehead.

"Just rest." Words too late. He was already out and she waited until the regeneration was done to pull the blanket over him. "Ridiculous man that you are..." She gathered underthings and slipped them on before reclaiming her former spot. "My husband."


End file.
